Early season morning tactics

[mathews8pt]

Last season was my first elk hunt(which i loved) and i will be going back to the same area again this year. We are going for archery opener and ive done a lot of research to learn more elk behavior for this trip. I have a good idea where i want to hunt in the evenings(feeding areas we found), but would like some opinions on morning setups.

I know the elk will start heading back to bed after sun up, and i know we are not in good enough shape to keep up with them. So if they are not vocal what is your strategy for hunting these early season elk in the mornings?

 

[HuskerDevil]

easier said than done, get in between the night feeding areas and their beds. For instance, if they are feeding in a meadow and bedding in the hills, look for trails in drainages that they use to move.

 

[mathews8pt]

easier said than done, get in between the night feeding areas and their beds. For instance, if they are feeding in a meadow and bedding in the hills, look for trails in drainages that they use to move.

Thanks. We have a couple spots that I think there will be elk in the early season this year, but i guess i just wanted some opinions on trying to hunt the "good" spots in the morning vs waiting til they are coming to the meadows in the evening. My thoughts were the winds/thermals are probably more predictable in the evenings, therefore it may be safer to hunt those areas only in the evenings.

The one area is heavily timbered and there was a lot of bedding on that hillside with the meadow. I think it would be very hard to get between them and their bed in the am. In another spot we found the terrain is a lot more broken and there is less ideal bedding areas, which i think lends itself to possibly getting ahead of them in the mornings.

 

[theleo91386]

Thermals are pretty predictable in the mornings as well, the difference is you need to be really paying attention to them as there's usually a shift where they become erratic until they calm down again in the evening. Have a time table setup on your good spots so you're out of there when that shift happens. As to my favorite kind of morning spot, water between their feeding and bedding areas.